The latest round of items banned under the staged WA Plastics Ban produce bags and food container lids are banned from 1 September 2024.
On 13 June 2021, the State Government announced Western Australia’s Plan for Plastics. This follows previous action on plastic, including the introduction of a lightweight plastic bag ban in 2018 and a container deposit scheme in 2020.
The Plan for Plastics was released in response to community feedback and provides a roadmap towards a more sustainable, plastic-free WA. The plan is consistent with the waste hierarchy by promoting actions that:
- prioritise avoiding single-use plastics
- replace single-use items with reusable alternatives wherever possible
- promote non-plastic single-use alternatives that can be recovered, recycled or composted if it is not possible to use reusable items
- minimise litter or contamination of waste treatment facilities by not using single-use plastic.
The plan includes regulations to ban single-use plastic items in a two-stage approach. Stage 1 regulations are complete.
Items banned in Stage 1 include:
- plates
- unlidded bowls
- cutlery
- drink stirrers
- drinking straws
- unlidded cups for cold beverages
- thick plastic shopping bags
- expanded polystyrene (EPS) takeaway food containers
- helium balloon releases
- unlidded takeaway food containers.
Regulations for Stage 2 items took effect on 27 February 2023 with a staged introduction.
Items banned in Stage 2 include:
- From 01/09/2023
- expanded polystyrene cups and food trays for raw meat and seafood
- cotton buds with plastic stems
- microbeads
- degradable plastics (plastics designed to break up more rapidly into fragments under certain conditions)
- loose and moulded expanded polystyrene packaging
- From 01/03/2024
- coffee cups and lids
- From 01/09/2024
- produce bags
- lids for cups, trays, bowls, plates and takeaway food containers
- trays for takeaway food not covered in the Stage 1 ban
- From 01/07/2025
- expanded plastic packaging (moulded)
More information
- General Information – https://www.wa.gov.au/service/environment/business-and-community-assistance/western-australias-plan-plastics
- Stage 2 Fact Sheets – https://www.wa.gov.au/government/document-collections/stage-2-single-use-plastics-ban-fact-sheets-and-faqs
ACAPMA
